Rio Dell approves water penalties, looks for help from senior rights holders

The low and slow Eel River flows past Rio Dell below Eagle Prairie Bridge last week. The city council has adopted a three-tier schedule that increases customers' water bills if they use more than the allotted 50 gallons a day per person

Rio Dell residents will face an initial 50 percent increase in their water bills — followed by steeper penalties — if they use more than the allotted 50 gallons a day per person during the water shortage, while the city looks at trying to gain access to Eel River water via senior rights holders.

City Manager Kyle Knopp said the council adopted a three-tier schedule Tuesday that increases customers' bills by 50 percent for an initial lapse. Additional overuse will result in bills tripling or quadrupling, he added, saying there is no flat penalty fee.

"The basic water usage per person is two units per month, and each unit is 748 gallons," Knopp said. "When you go above what's allowed, the bill starts to go up and the amount depends on the cost of the bill. Each home is assumed to have three individuals in it, and the city will be sending out forms for residents to list how many people are in their homes. If there's six people living in a home, we want to account for that."

Knopp added that the city will also have an exemption process for those with a medical condition that requires them to bathe or shower multiple times a day.

Rio Dell declared a water shortage emergency after the California State Water Resources Control Board directed the city — along with 128 other junior water rights holders — to stop diverting water from the Eel River and Van Duzen tributary after it was found that water levels were insufficient to meet the needs of senior water rights holders. According to state law, junior water rights holders obtained rights after 1914.

Knopp said the shortage restricts residents to 50 gallons of water per person per day and prohibits external water uses, like watering lawns or washing cars.

"The city has already issued some warnings for outside use violations, but overall, people are voluntarily committing to the mandate," Knopp said, adding the city submitted an exemption request to the water board. "Rio Dell is unique because we have no secondary source of water coming into the community. Our wells and springs were shut down years ago, and the city turned to the river as a source of water, and it's served us well up until this point. The exemption is our response to the state of how we are going to meet the mandate, and the next step is for us to send a water usage report at the end of the month, and it's in the state's hands after that. We feel confident that we've done what we can to avoid any penalties the state might throw at the community."

After a lengthy meeting, the council voted 4-0 to approve the penalty structure, with Councilwoman Melissa Marks abstaining.

Knopp said there were a lot of residents at the meeting who voiced both long- and short-term concerns.

"Overall, I think residents are taking it very seriously, and it's being demonstrated in the daily water usage data that shows a dramatic reduction," Knopp said. "We're seeing people step up to reduce the amount used."

Former City Manager Jim Stretch said many community members have stepped forward and offered water donations to the city.

"We have folks here with private wells that aren't affected, and they've donated water to keep the fairly new trees and shrubs along Main Street alive," Stretch said. "The new shrubs and trees went in last year, and it would be sad to lose them."

Right now, Knopp said the city's focus is to detect and eliminate any leaks.

"We're continuing to investigate all options, including to see if we can get water rights from a senior water holder, and we are also reinvestigating older infrastructure options like wells or springs to see what might be possibly on that end," Knopp said.

Stretch said the water board gave the city a list of senior water rights holders along the north fork and main stems of the Eel River.

"The state board recommended we make contact with the senior rights holders to see if they would donate water or if we could acquire senior rights in some way, which are very sought-after," Stretch said. "We will contact every one of those holders to see what we can get."